Friends, Family & Guests: Jensen Daggett [ Unknown ], Shawn Levy [ Unknown ], John Waters [ Unknown ]

 Cyndi Glass: This is one strange episode. I find it hard to believe that in the entire trip to Florida, Hanson and Penhall never got it out of Lance that he was traveling to find his ex-girlfriend, Ashley. I find it hard to believe that Hanson, when sitting with Ashley and hearing about Lance, didn’t mention that he had come to Florida with a guy named Lance. I find it too coincidental that Hanson’s favorite "Girl of Spring Break" just happens to be the same girl that Lance is following. Still, in Morgan/Wong’s skillful hands, it works. At the beginning of the episode, in the heat-less Chapel, no work is being done anyway (are they having a snow day in the school system?) - and while Ioki, Hoffs and Hanson all bitch about wanting a vacation, Penhall wistfully cleans his framed photograph of Marta - very subtle and well-done.

Hanson is delightfully uncomfortable in sunny Florida, completely out of place in his jeans, dark blue t-shirt and grey sweatshirt jacket. Penhall is fun to watch as he reverts to the more carefree person he was in Seasons 1 and 2, aggressively demanding his snacks on the bus and enjoying the Florida scenery and scantily-clad women. I like it that TPTB included Sal in the plotline as well, giving both Depp and the real-life Sal a paid vacation to the place where they grew up together in real life. Back at the Chapel, we see a glimpse of the Hoffs/Ioki partnership that we hardly ever get to see much of. Hoffs seems to relax and have fun with Ioki, in a way we don’t see again until Season 5 when she works with Mac to bust the payola attempt at the student radio station. Fuller is amused by all of them, it seems, but maybe he’s just trying to keep the tension down; Hoffs’ mention of the union is all too real - they certainly should be entitled to more vacation than this, and maybe he’s afraid if he comes down too hard on them they might make an issue out of it. The episode seems inconsequential and just a lot of fun...until the last five minutes, when both the intensity and the quality take a big leap. It's as if a switch has been flipped - Hanson’s quiet caring about Penhall and his offer to go with him to El Salvador to rescue Marta show as never before the depth of his loyalty to his best friend. Overall, I don’t get much out of this one besides seeing Hanson’s comic misery and that last great scene at the end.

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